Disclaimer: Hart of Dixie is not mine, you can tell because I'm posting fanfiction. Title and epigraphs come from the Morrissey B-Side Never Played Symphonies.
Author's Note: So this came from what would happen in an ideal world regarding the triangle, but it didn't really come out as I hoped. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and please don't be too harsh when commenting.
You were one, you knew you were one
But you slipped right through my fingers
No, not literally, but metaphorically.
It would be easy to say that theirs was a problem of timing, but really it's an oversimplification. There were chances to make it work, but he'd turned them down and then she had. At the time it had made sense, he needed time and having just broken off his wedding due to confused feelings he didn't mind offering her the time to get her head clear of everyone else. He just never saw himself as belonging to that category.
The fact that no-one else saw it either should lessen the sting, but it doesn't. Looking back it's so obvious what was happening but everyone just saw what they wanted to see. Wade Kinsella never stayed with a woman for long and Zoe Hart would never want a man like him for long. When they took up together it was the talk of the town, and they didn't help themselves the way they joked about only being in it for the physical. Wade flirted and joked and trapped Zoe against the bar just to press up close to her and make her cheeks go pink. Zoe criticised and flirted and wore those tiny shorts and skirts that had Wade eyeing her like wolf might a lamb. The town saw them fight in the Dixie Stop or argue by the gazebo or stomp all around the town and waited for the day they'd just give up.
What no-one saw was Zoe and Lavon drinking artisanal cocktails to finalise the menu for Wade's Place or the fact the fuse box no longer blew or heard the late night conversations about how the bar should look and how she was trying to get permanent privileges at the hospital so she could continue to do surgeries, she had the training and they were short-handed. Everyone saw them fight and no-one saw them smile, everyone saw them flirt and no-one saw them support, everyone gave them six months and no-one thought there was a future. They all saw it eventually though, even him.
It was two months before anyone bothered to ask Lavon his opinion on how long they'd last and Lavon had just given them his best smile and told them it wasn't his place to talk about it.
It took the town three months before they noticed Crazy Earl wasn't demanding his monthly sing-a-long and another three to discover that it was because Earl got a weekly visit from the doctor. Wade hadn't realised what she was up to the first time, agreeing to drive her over to check on Earl on a Sunday, but he realised when she asked for a ride again the next week, the third week he got her up to head over there.
It was four months before someone caught them having sex behind the Rammer Jammer while Wade was on a break and a week before Zoe could look anyone in the eye. It was another month before they were caught again and Zoe was meeting gazes by her visit the following evening. By the time they got caught a third time everyone was agreed that Shellie really should've taken the trash out once Wade had got back.
When she'd told him it was too soon after the disaster of his wedding to Lemon, he'd agreed. Fifteen years doesn't disappear just because you find yourself caring for someone new. When she'd said she wanted to explore her feelings for Wade, he'd thought it sounded like a good idea, after all Zoe and Wade would be all wrong together.
The problem was they weren't. Wade messed around with her neatly ordered life and made her cut loose, and Zoe forced him to act like a grown up and stop resenting his responsibilities. It took time to see them as more than a passing fancy, after all he had left Lemon because of his feelings for Zoe and after the MOTY there was no question how she felt, so why would she choose Wade over him?
It's a question that plagued him so much he had actually cracked and asked around.
Shellie said "I don't know, they always seem to be arguing, no matter what the subject they'll fight like the fate of the world depends on it. It was pretty funny watching her tell him Katniss should be with Gale, while he was insisting on Peeta." He didn't really get what that meant so he couldn't say whether it was helpful or not.
Tom told him " I guess she just thinks he's cooler, no offense but I'd rather be like Wade than you." This time he was certain it useless, and that Tom may have more serious problems than they'd thought.
Brick had muttered something about reaping what he'd sown and headed in the other direction; of course Brick had been a bad choice.
Addie had rolled her eyes at him "The heart wants what the heart wants George. If we had a choice in any of this my husband wouldn't leave wet towels on the bathroom floor and socks down the cushions of my sofa." Which was more helpful than Lavon's "Lavon Hayes is not getting in the middle of anybody else's romantic drama, Lavon Hayes has had enough of his own."
It was Tansy who'd made him see it. "I doubt they could tell you themselves George. 'Cept for the part where his smile's a little brighter round her, and hers comes a little easier. How do you explain that someone who's everythin' you're not is everythin' you're missin'? I'll tell you this though he's done more to be an adult since he's known her than in all the years I've known him, and I think if any of us really knew her, she'd be a lot more easy goin'." She'd smiled and headed for her car, before she got in she stopped and turned back to him. " You don't need to understand it George, what y'all need to do is accept it. Cause from what I've seen, they ain't fallin' apart anytime soon."
It was two years later, practically to the day of his forfeit wedding, that they came bounding into the Rammer Jammer with grins fit to split their faces and a befuddled Earl in tow. Wade hollered at the townsfolk to "shut the hell up" and Zoe smacked him in the arm. George watched it unfold with a gnawing feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. "Okay, y'all listen up cos me an' the doc are..." "we're getting married!" Zoe interrupted waving her left hand around maniacally. Wade gave her a slightly annoyed look, and probably would have made a comment about it if they weren't suddenly at the centre of a Bluebell group hug as the townspeople all tried to congratulate them at once. He saw Earl stumble into Wade and hug him and with a soft look on his face, whispering something to his son that had him holding back tears. George pushed his way through the crowd and, even though he really had been aiming for Wade, got to Zoe first. She pulled him into a hug, "Isn't it great, George? I swear I never thought he was going to ask, my mom's gonna be so happy she can see me in a wedding dress." "It's wonderful" He bit out "Congratulations both of you." "Thanks Tucker" said Wade, before suddenly realising he was right next to his brand new fiancée. For a tiny moment they grinned at each other, and then he pulled her tightly to him and kissed her like it was the last time, not just one of the many to come.
It would be easy to say the best man won, but as he slipped out of the bar watching them desperately trying to find each other among their friends he realised that there's only a winner when there's a competition. Watching them together he can see clearly, whatever choice Zoe had in the situation it had been made long ago, maybe by candle light in the carriage house, or in at storm swept barn, or maybe earlier than that, her first Christmas, her first ghost hunt, her first heatwave, hell, there's good chance that whether she knew it or not it had been made her first night. The more he considers it, the more alike he thinks they are, after all, he'd never realised she'd made that choice either.
You were one, you meant to be one
and you jumped into my face and laughed
and kissed me on the cheek and then were gone forever.